LAKELAND, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-2, on Tuesday at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium.
The Tigers are 11-9 in Grapefruit League play.
What happened
Five runs arrived for the Tigers in the bottom of the eighth inning, all thanks to several players from minor-league camp, to put the Tigers ahead 6-2.
The Tigers grabbed the lead, 3-2, on Jake Holton’s two-run single. He swung at a 3-0 fastball from right-handed reliever Chase Shugart and drove in Eric De La Rosa (walk) and Gage Workman (walk).
Brendon Davis, still a member of big-league camp, singled to keep the pressure on, and Colt Keith — arguably the top prospect in the organization — increased the lead to 4-2 with an RBI single.
The Tigers added two more runs on Luis Garcia’s sacrifice fly to right field. On the play, a throwing error from shortstop Luis Ravelo while trying to get the ball into the infield allowed a second run to score.
It was heads-up baserunning from Keith.
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For the second straight outing, right-handed reliever Alex Lange struggled to throw strikes. He didn’t allow a run against the Red Sox in the sixth inning, but he walked two batters.
Lange, who has aspirations to close for the Tigers, has thrown 13 of 38 pitches for strikes — a 34.2% strike rate — and conceded five walks in his past two outings. His command faltered at times during the regular season in 2022, as well.
Starting off
Right-hander Michael Lorenzen, making his third start this spring, allowed two runs on five hits with zero walks and three strikeouts in 2⅔ innings, throwing 51 of 69 pitches for strikes.
The Red Sox didn’t whiff at his revered changeup, but they did so six times at his slider.
Lorenzen lost an eight-pitch battle and gave up a solo home run to Red Sox leadoff hitter Raimel Tapia in the first inning. The next batter, Triston Casas, battled for 11 pitches and singled to right field.
The Tigers removed Lorenzen after 25 pitches.
Left-hander Adam Wolf recorded the final two outs in the first, and Lorenzen came back for the second inning. He retired the Red Sox in order and needed 14 pitches for his three outs in the second.
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